Mantras for a Sustainable Art Practice (Vol. I)
/As creatives, many of us have been forced to reexamine our relationship with our art practice in the uniquely stifling year that is 2020. That may mean working in total isolation, limiting yourself to projects which can be stored away for ease of working from home or trying to save money by only working with materials you already have. That said, finding the inspiration to create during isolation is not as easy as some of us “hermity” artist-types would have expected.
Time is without a doubt hugely important to a successful art practice - but so is energy. And while these days many of us have found the extra time, we may not always find the inspiration required to energize our practice as readily. While personally grappling with a lack of inspiration, I’ve recently found myself circling back to Elizabeth Gilbert’s, Big Magic, a book which examines creativity and its many complex facets. Gilbert describes her writing practice as a complicated relationship, “If you want to be an artist of any sort, it seemed to me that handling your frustration is a fundamental part of the work”.
We dreamt up this series as a way to both engage with other artists in a time when opportunities for interaction feel few and far between and seek guidance on how everyone is coping in an effort to find some much needed common ground. What follows are five artist’s mantras for a sustainable art practice in 2020.
JENNIFER D. PRINTZ
“Breathe!”
Whenever I am stressed I have to remind myself to slow down and breathe deeply!
“Keep on the sunny side.”
My grandmother used to sing this song first released by the Carter family in the 1920's. The message of the song is simple. Life will always present us with strife, but we also always have a choice as to what our perspective is. And this year with all that has happened, is one where I have had to find the good to put myself on the sunny side of things. Working from home has given me a chance to refocus and learn new things, and opportunities to grow and enrich my life that I would not have found if it had been business as usual.
www.jenniferprintz.com
Thank goodness that when my husband and I moved to Miami in 2019 we found a place with two bedrooms. That space for the past few months has been my studio as well as my office and teaching space. Currently I am in front of the camera many more hours a week than I could have ever imagined. I took this selfie one evening as I noticed my reflection in the sliding glass doors.
Graphite and Epson Ultrachrome Inks on Antique Paper
This year has contained elements of both wrapping things up and exploring anew. I have spent some time working with materials I have already had or things I started and then forgot or sat aside (surely I am not the only one?). More recently I have been experimenting more - drawing with color, branching into fabric work and more sculptural presentations.
I feel hopeful that all of this is leading me in new and strong directions. I am printing the photographic imagery I normally print on paper onto fabric and am layering paint and color into other works.
One of the good things about working from home is the time with my dog. Rocky has always been a great studio pup, but in the past few months he is ever by my side and supplies a lot of needed laughs and smiles. His favorite place is on the bed right behind me when I am drawing or teaching.
RICHARD VERGEZ
My mantra is to “always keep the work in flux and experiment as much as possible. If it doesn't work, rip it up and start again.”
https://cargocollective.com/richardvergez
Collage reference materials
Studio Views
CHRISTINA HUMPHREYS
My mantra when making work in quarantine has been "slow down". Before shelter-in-place, I was burning the candle at both ends. My practice involves a lot of tedious processes, and I often feel myself rushing to complete work during my spare time. I've been learning to step back and pause more, and not rush to the finish line.
www.christinahumphreys.com
The first piece I finished in April was this embroidery I titled “Alone Time”. Quarantine had me thinking about the slow passage of time in solitude, so I embroidered time as sand passing through hourglasses along the sides. Full documentation of this piece can be seen on my website.
Next, after experimenting with photography in my studio, I finished this image-based embroidery from a photo I took in Rome two years ago. It’s also the largest I’ve embroidered (16"x16") and took about two months to complete. I had been wanting to embroider from photos for a while, and it was strange to think about when I might feel safe enough to travel again.
After these two pieces, I started working on a few other pieces at the same time. All of them are still in progress.
I also started my first weaving! This is made with cotton yarn and when finished will be about 23" square.
I often embroider from my couch or desk, but I've been weaving a lot more in my studio/office. It's given me a reason to stand while working, which has been a relief from sitting for long periods of time.
ASHLEY ORTIZ-DIAZ
”Do the next necessary thing until it’s done. Repeat if you can.
Prioritize rest and the rest will come.”
www.ashleyortizdiaz.com
Completed reduction relief for remote printing demo.
Reduction relief prints drying on my bedroom floor.
Gelli prints with stencil collage created at home; part of Manifold Vanishing series.
Home studio in my bedroom. Set up for teaching with demo proofs on the floor
Collage of etching and gelli prints with stencils made at home. Study for manifold vanishing series. See and read more on this series here.
JEN CLAY
"nobody cares" or more specifically "nobody cares what I am doing"
At first this may sound terrible but this is what I say to myself when I get really worried and all my irrational fears flood in and make me worried to make any decision at all. I get panicked and I get really self-conscious and convinced that I've hurt others with my words or actions, I just have to try to remind myself "nobody cares" about what I do so I should just try to do what makes me happy.
www.jenlynnclay.com
My studio at Oolite Arts is a long rectangle shape. I use the front of the space for my rug frame and hang up works to see what adjustments I need to make. Here in the back of the studio, I have a table for ironing and pinning and one for sewing, and I often hang up smaller parts that I've made to figure out what will eventually get stitched together for a piece. I usually wear Bluetooth headphones to listen to shows or audiobooks while I am working. The week I took these pictures, I was entirely into Trigun.
I've learned to hang my work together. When I don't test pieces together, I can deviate from my original idea, so this way, I've learned to stay in the same headspace as the first piece to the last piece in a series. These works are for a series called Fruiting Bodies and the texture is made from quilting.
Here I am working on some pieces together. I often take one down to sew on and hang it back up and do the same to another work. Its almost like having kids; each one gets equal attention. The middle piece has more of ways to go; it's a tufted rug with quilted shapes of different quilted animal appendages pulled through the rug. I have a rug textile on view in this exhibition which I created just before quarantine, so you can compare to the work I've been creating since quarantine. This work in progress is my attempt to marry my rug and quilting techniques together.
I've learned to hang my work together. When I don't test pieces together, I can deviate from my original idea. So this way, I've learned to stay in the same headspace as the first piece to the last piece in a series.
I’d like to thank Jennifer, Richard, Christina, Ashley and Jen for generously inviting us into their virtual studios. I’ll conclude with Elizabeth Gilbert’s final thoughts from her book, which I found echoed in one way or another in the included artist’s sentiments,
“Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred.
What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all.
We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits.
We are terrified, and we are brave.
Art is a crushing chore and a wonderful privilege.”
If you’re an artist who would like to share your mantra and some studio updates with us, please email sammi@isprojectsfl.com to be featured in this series.
Make work and be well,
Sammi